Sleep-talking
phenomenon of talking while asleep
Somniloquy, commonly referred to as sleep-talking, is a parasomnia in which one speaks aloud while asleep. It can range from simple mumbling sounds to loud shouts or long, frequently inarticulate speeches. It can occur many times during a sleep cycle and during both NREM and REM sleep stages, though, as with sleepwalking and night terrors, it most commonly occurs during delta-wave NREM sleep or temporary arousals therefrom.
When somniloquy occurs during rapid eye movement sleep, it represents a so-called "motor breakthrough" of dream speech: words spoken in a dream are spoken out loud. Depending on its frequency, this may or may not be considered pathological. All motor functions are disabled during healthy REM sleep and therefore REM somniloquy is usually considered a component of REM behavior disorder.
Presentation
Associated conditions
Sleep-talking can occur by itself (i.e., idiopathic) or as a feature of another sleep disorder such as:
Rapid eye movement behavior disorder (RBD) – loud, emotional or profane sleep talking
Sleepwalking
Night terrors – intense fear, screaming, shouting
Sleep-related eating disorder (SRED)
Causes
In 1966, researchers worked to find links between heredity and sleep-talking. Their research suggests the following:
Sleep-talking parents are more likely to have children who sleep-talk.
Sleep-talking can still occur, though much less commonly, when neither parent has a history of sleep talking.
A large portion of people begin to sleep-talk later in life without any prior history of sleep-talking during childhood or adolescence.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sleep-talking” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.